Nicolas Jackson was not the only Chelsea star in Enzo Maresca’s squad who attracted interest from Bayern Munich in the summer.
Bayern signed Jackson on loan from Chelsea after the Blues’ purchases of Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.
Jackson is set to remain at Bayern until at least the end of the season, with a return to Chelsea highly unlikely.
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He is no longer an important player for the Club World Cup winners, but another individual is and caught Bayern’s attention last season.
Enzo Maresca arriving at Stamford Bridge before Chelsea against Liverpool in the Premier League.
Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images
Enzo Maresca will be glad Malo Gusto never joined Bayern Munich
In June, it was claimed that Bayern had enquired about signing Malo Gusto. A transfer never materialised, though, and Maresca will be happy about that.
The defender has made 13 appearances in all competitions for Chelsea this season and is now one of his manager’s most important players.
When Maresca spoke about Gusto earlier this month, he said: “I said that we have many, many good players, but Malo, for us, is a main player in the way we want to play because he allows us to be versatile.”
The above could see Reece James play in midfield more, but out of the Chelsea captain and Gusto, it is still quite clear who the better right-back is.
While he has not held down that position at Chelsea this season, the expectation is that James will be England’s right-back at the World Cup.
Chelsea duo Reece James and Malo Gusto with Club World Cup medals
Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images
Reece James still a better right-back than Malo Gusto
For as good as Gusto has been in the current campaign, going forward, James should still be Chelsea’s No.1 right-back. He clears his teammate in the most important areas.
For example, James averages more tackles and more interceptions than Gusto and is not dribbled past as often as the France international. Offensively, he is also a much better player.
Player League apps Starts Minutes Goals Assists Key passes per game Tackles per game Interceptions per game Dribbled past per game
Reece James 11 7 707 1 2 1.2 1.5 1.4 0.4
Malo Gusto 9 6 553 1 1 0.7 1.3 0.9 0.8
Via WhoScored
All in all, Maresca is very fortunate to have two right-backs of James and Gusto’s quality. At one stage, Gusto did not look like a good fit for Maresca, but Chelsea were not rash and did not rush into selling him to Bayern, which has proven to be the correct decision.